Government Documents

Tennessee State University's Martha M. Brown-Lois H. Daniel Library has been a selective depository for United States Government Documents since 1972. The library is one of five in the 5th Congressional District of Tennessee. 

This Library is a congressionally designated depository for U.S. Government Documents. Public Access to the Government Documents collection is guaranteed by public law. (Title 44 United States Code)

 

  

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The Brown-Daniel Government Documents Depository serves the needs of students, faculty and staff of Tennessee State University as well as the citizens of Tennessee's 5th Congressional District, including the Nashville-Davidson Metropolitan area and the cities of Springfield and Goodlettsville. 

Tennessee State University currently collects and holds in print government documents from the following government authors:

PreEx- Executive Office of the President

Y- Congress

Y.3 and Y.4- these documents consist of all entities that make up the Commissions, Committees, Boards 

J - Department of Justice

L – Department of Labor

HE - Department of Health and Human Services.

I- Department of the Interior

A- Department of Agriculture- Students at TSU may find these documents to be of particular use

HS -Department of Homeland Security

T- Department of Treasury

QD- Quartermaster’s Department

RA- National Railroad Adjustment Board

PS- Postal Savings System

ML-Maritime Labor Board

AE-National Archives and Records Administration

TSU currently holds a number of documents published by the National Archives and Records Administration. In our collections, we hold the Public Papers of the President of the United States (Obama, Raegan, George W. Bush) and the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents, formerly called the Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents (approx. the 1980s to early 1990s). Most of these items will be removed from the government documents collections soon because most of the material is available online by searching for the Public Papers of the President of the United States, which are available for the years 1929-2016, and the Daily Compilation of Presidential Documents which are available for the years 1992-2024.

E-Department of Energy

B-Broadcasting Board of Governors

C-Department of Commerce

CC-Federal Communications Commission

D-Department of Defense

ED-Department of Education

FEM- Federal Emergency Management Agency

 

Unlike the Dewey Decimal System or the Library of Congress Classification System that you may have already heard of the Superintendent of Documents or SuDoc Classification System operates a differently than you may be used to. Government documents are organized by the government office or agency that created it rather than a individual author as you would see with a typical novel.

A History of the Superintendent of Documents Classification System

The Superintendent of Documents Classification System was developed in GPO’s Public Documents Library between 1895 and 1903. William Leander Post, head of the Library, described it in the preface to the List of Publications of the Agriculture Department 1862-1902 issued by the Superintendent of Documents in 1904. Post credited Adelaide R. Hasse, a librarian working in the library from 1895-1897, for the concept of classification by Government author. Hasse had previously used Government organization authorship to assign classification numbers to the List of Publications of the U.S. Department of Agriculture from 1841 to June 30, 1895, Inclusive while working as assistant librarian in the Los Angeles Public Library. It was published by the Department of Agriculture in 1896 as its Library Bulletin No. 9.

A more detailed history of the system can be found here

Below is a picture detailing how a SuDoc number is formatted

 

 

Government documents are organized using the Superintendent of Documents Classification system, which arranges publications by the agencies that create them unlike other common library classification systems like the Dewey Decimal System or the Library of Congress classification used for TSU's main collection. Below are a number of government websites that will be of use. 

Websites

FDLP.gov- A go-to website to learn the ins and outs of the Federal Depository Library Program. It is a great resource for any aspiring or new government documents librarians

gpo.gov- The Government Publishing Office is in charge of the maintenance of the Federal Depository Library Program.

govinfo.gov- Provides free access to official publications from all three branches of the Federal government.

GovInfo Tutorials- click on the hyperlink to find information on how to perform searches, navigate the GovInfo website, and overall improve your experience while using this website

ask.gpo.gov- Here you are able to ask questions, find out where Federal Depository Libraries are in your area, and even request to be a depository library your self

congress.gov

federalregister.gov

loc.gov

house.gov

senate.gov

law.cornell.edu- Here you will find Cornell University's Legal Information Institute and as its title suggests find legal information. For instance, this website contains information on Title 44 which governs the Federal Depository Library Program.